misfortune to be detected in the
act, notwithstanding the many puncheons of spirits and many bales of
goods fished out of the dark woods near her domicile.

To this spot it was, just as the "setting sun's pathetic light" had been
succeeded by the grey twilight of the evening, that we bore the body
of our unfortunate companion. The door was closed, but Grace being
accustomed to nocturnal visitors, speedily answered the first summons
and presented herself. She was evidently of immense age, being nearly
bowed double, and her figure, with her silvery hair, confined by a blue
checked cotton handkerchief, and palsied hand, as tremblingly she rested
upon her staff and eyed the group, would have made a subject worthy of
the pencil of a Landseer. She was wrapped in an old red cloak, with
a large hood, and in her ears she wore a pair of long gold-dropped
earrings, similar to what one sees among the Norman peasantry--the gift,
as I afterwards learned, of a drowned lover. After scrutinising us for a
second or two, during which time a large black cat kept walking to and
fro, purring and rubbing itself against her, she held back the door
and beckoned us to enter. The little place was cleanly swept up, and
a faggot and some dry brushwood, which she had just lighted for
the purpose of boiling her kettle, threw a gleam of light over the
apartment, alike her bedchamber, parlour, and kitchen. Her curtainless
bed at the side, covered with a coarse brown counterpane, was speedily
prepared for our friend, into which being laid, our new acquaintances
were dispatched in search of doctors, while the boatman and myself,
under the direction of old Grace, applied ourselves to procuring such
restoratives as her humble dwelling afforded.

"Let Grace alone," said the younger of the boatmen, seeing my affliction
at the lamentable catastrophe, "if there be but a spark of life in the
gentleman, she'll bring him round--many's the drowning man--aye, and
wounded one, too--that's been brought in here during the stormy nights,
and after fights with the coast-guard--that she's recovered."

Hot bottles, and hot flannels, and hot bricks were all applied, but in
vain; and when I saw hot brandy, too, fail of having the desired effect,
I gave my friend up as lost, and left the hut to vent my grief in the
open air. Grace was more sanguine and persevering, and when I returned,
after a half-hour's absence, I could distinctly feel a returning pulse.
Still, he gave n